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Cancer in America Is Way Down, For the Wealthy Anyway (bloomberg.com)
The good news is that cancer in America was beaten back over the 25 years ending 2016, with death rates plummeting, particularly when it comes to the four most common types of the dreaded affliction. From a report: There's a caveat, however. Those gains have been reaped mostly by the well-off. While racial disparities have begun to narrow, the impact of limited access to treatment for the poorest Americans has increased wealth-based inequality, according to the American Cancer Society's annual update on trends and statistics. "Any time you have a disease as serious as cancer, when you have a substantial reduction in deaths, that's a notable achievement," said Len Lichtenfeld, the interim chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "But there are still a lot of areas for improvement."
Health insurance and access to care can be an issue in some poor and rural portions of the country, where there are higher death rates of colon, cervical and lung cancers, according to Cancer Statistics 2019. While poverty was actually associated with lower rates of cancer mortality prior to the 1980s, that trend has since reversed, due in part to changes in diet and smoking as well as screening and treatment rates, the health organization said.
Health insurance and access to care can be an issue in some poor and rural portions of the country, where there are higher death rates of colon, cervical and lung cancers, according to Cancer Statistics 2019. While poverty was actually associated with lower rates of cancer mortality prior to the 1980s, that trend has since reversed, due in part to changes in diet and smoking as well as screening and treatment rates, the health organization said.
And highly trained medical staff shouldn't be forced into slavery, to take care of every health issue for people who can't or won't pay anything for it. So what do you do?
Honestly, I'm tired of people going on, constantly, about equality in America, as though it's something we're obligated to try to achieve, or even a worthy goal? Other than making the statement that, "All men are created equal." -- it's really all about giving people a framework of opportunities to better THEMSELVES, if they wish to make the effort.
If you're living in poverty, yeah -- you probably won't have access to the best medical care available. What you do have is a pretty decent chance to get a lot of basic treatment done at little to no cost to you. Between doctors and dentists who willingly volunteer some of their time to provide these services, and government agencies taxing others to fund it, it certainly exists. Cancer treatment is HUGELY expensive, though - to the point where many insurance policies even put a "cap" on the amount they'll spend for it over your lifetime. So yeah, it's going to be the wealthier people who get the best treatment when they're in that particular bind.. They're the only ones with enough disposable income to not only have a good insurance policy, but to have paid extra for supplemental policies for things like cancer treatment -- or the funds to pay out of pocket for what insurance won't cover.
Ultimately though? You can't just demand America provide the "best care possible" to everybody, in all cases, regardless of their ability to pay, and magically have a better society. You'd quickly wind up spending most of your waking hours working to pay government back for providing those costly services to all the other people who used them.
Why don't you go spend a few hundred grand and years of your life on getting a medical degree and then give your services away?